-Economic and Political Weekly One knows who will suffer if the Narendra Modi government succeeds in weakening MGNREGA. The largest public employment programme the world has ever seen is in trouble. In 2013-14, 74 million individuals in 48 million households in rural India were employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act programme (or MGNREGA as it is called), with each household on average finding work for 46 days. This...

-The Hindu Business Line Through the ‘Sukrutham' scheme, the Kerala Government aims to take advanced cancer treatment to the poorest Kerala: "We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up or fight like hell," Lance Armstrong, champion cycle racer, who recovered from advanced testicular cancer once said about his battle against cancer. The American, fortunately, had the money to pay for the extremely expensive treatment. But, for the majority of 1.75 lakh...

-The Indian Express The era of globalised markets is also an era of globalised sovereignties. Nation states must constantly sync their policies with global constituencies of policies and citizens. At times, domestic disharmony is the price nation states may be required and willing to pay. The case in point here is the proposed review of the intellectual property rights (IPR) policy, particularly those clauses that are related to pharmaceutical patent policy....

-The Hindustan Times For fiscal prudence and better outcome of public expenditure, the Narendra Modi government is likely to downsize some of the social sector schemes, including the rural job guarantee programme, the biggest grosser of the central funds. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had allocated about Rs. 33,351 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) in his budget this July but many believe that the huge expenditure was not...

-The Indian Express Rajkot (Gujarat): Even as the Met department said that cyclonic storm Nilofar may not hit Kutch and Saurashtra coasts with the ferocity feared earlier, the forecast of rain and gusty winds have cultivators of groundnut and cotton worried. Saurashtra produces around 90 per cent of groundnut and around 60 per cent of cotton of the state. Farmers fear that the cyclone may damage to the twin cash crops. These...